Just as another example....I mentioned the "Voluntary Denied Boarding" (VDB) schemers in the post above. There are people, who go around trying to get bumped off flights in order to collect travel vouchers. There are many sites (like 'Expert Flyer') that will show you the current 'loads' of various flights by fare class. These folks will purposely search out flights that are oversold. They will then buy a fully refundable ticket and head to the airport hoping to volunteer to get bumped.
There are even sites where fellow schemers will post info like "United gate agents in Kansas City will start by offering $300 vouchers, but if you wait, they will go up to $600". If it looks like the flight will not need to bump anyone, the VDB folks will just get their refundable ticket refunded and go on home and try again another day.....but the really good ones rack up thousands of dollars in travel vouchers annually. Don't be surprised to see changes to denied boarding rules as the airlines try to stay one step ahead.
There was big news last week as Delta changed their frequent flier program from a mileage based system to a 'spend' system. Basically, frequent fliers and corporate travel offices learned to buy the cheapest tickets they could and still maintain the elite levels that brought all the nice perks. Sometimes this meant doing 'mileage runs' at the end of the year by buying really cheap fares to places you had no interest in going just to boost your mileage count to keep your status (it was common to see lots of folks travelling on DEC 29 on itineraries like LGA-DTW-DEN-ATL-LGA....all in the same day). Delta has now switched the system to how much you spend.....not how far you fly. And from a business standpoint, it makes much more sense, but the old frequent fliers are howling about it because they won't earn as many miles as they used to purchasing deep dsicount fares. Think about it....does McDonalds want the the guy who comes in every day and buys a single item off the dollar menu or do they want the guy who comes in once a week and buys the latest expensive sandwich and shake and 4 happy meals?
You will likely see the other airlines switch to a 'spend' type system as well.
There are even sites where fellow schemers will post info like "United gate agents in Kansas City will start by offering $300 vouchers, but if you wait, they will go up to $600". If it looks like the flight will not need to bump anyone, the VDB folks will just get their refundable ticket refunded and go on home and try again another day.....but the really good ones rack up thousands of dollars in travel vouchers annually. Don't be surprised to see changes to denied boarding rules as the airlines try to stay one step ahead.
There was big news last week as Delta changed their frequent flier program from a mileage based system to a 'spend' system. Basically, frequent fliers and corporate travel offices learned to buy the cheapest tickets they could and still maintain the elite levels that brought all the nice perks. Sometimes this meant doing 'mileage runs' at the end of the year by buying really cheap fares to places you had no interest in going just to boost your mileage count to keep your status (it was common to see lots of folks travelling on DEC 29 on itineraries like LGA-DTW-DEN-ATL-LGA....all in the same day). Delta has now switched the system to how much you spend.....not how far you fly. And from a business standpoint, it makes much more sense, but the old frequent fliers are howling about it because they won't earn as many miles as they used to purchasing deep dsicount fares. Think about it....does McDonalds want the the guy who comes in every day and buys a single item off the dollar menu or do they want the guy who comes in once a week and buys the latest expensive sandwich and shake and 4 happy meals?
You will likely see the other airlines switch to a 'spend' type system as well.
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